KNICKS -at- LAKERS - 1/9 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Bynumite!... Andrew Bynum really should have gotten his money's worth. After dominating Amare Stoudemire on both ends of the floor during the Lakers 109-87 beatdown, he was tossed to start the fourth quarter for asking a ref "Are you serious?" after a bad call went against him on the defensive end.

Amare has given New York new life, but the protection he got from the officials tonight was ridiculous. Both Kobe and Bynum were hacked a number of times by Amare under the hoop without a call. By the time Bynum was whistled in the fourth after blocking Amare, his natural reaction was a couple of "Are you serious?" remarks drawing the techs.

He was ejected, and with that, the disrespect of Bynum's game from the refs tonight was complete. Norm Nixon called out official Leon Wood after the game, ranting about Bynum's ejection. "I can say it, I'm not going to get fined. I'm going to go off. That was a messed up call," he said.

Not that any of this mattered or cost the Lakers a win, but the inconsistency in officiating made for a chippy night. Bynum was tossed, Kobe picked up a T, Artest got both a tech and a flagrant.

Bynum was ticked, but cool headed afterward. "It sucks to be taken out of the game, but at the same time maybe a couple calls go my way the next time," he said.

The Lakers thoroughly dominated the Knicks interior. They out-rebounded the Knicks 61-42, including 17 on the offensive glass. They were one Artest rebound away from having four Lakers with double-digit rebounds (probably five if Bynum played the fourth).

"Our big guys were dominant and that's what we wanted," Phil said afterward.

The Knicks lead the league with 108 points per game. The Lakers held them to their second-lowest output of the season and just 36 percent shooting.

That's more like the Lakers we know.


Kobe -- -- Take some of these stats with a grain of salt tonight. The refs weren't going to blow the whistle on the interior of the Knicks (Amare could have been whistled for about a dozen fouls in this game, including on Kobe). Kobe got a tech early on and had to bite his tongue throughout...and he was fouled throughout, even on the drive for his last make before sitting. So the shot attempts in the stat sheet go up as a result of the non-whistle on too many plays. He had his three ball going and was strong on the glass. He seemed to play with a good sense of urgency. The Stats: He scored 27 points on 10-28 shooting (3-6 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 5 assists, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +26. The Action: He overthrew a pass to Bynum, turnover. He spotted a cutting Pau for a layup. He attacked and threw the ball away, three on the other end. His pass to Pau was picked off. He missed a tough, running fade. He scored a layup on the break with Pau. He spun to get in the paint, then hit Bynum for the dunk. He missed a hanging jumper expecting a whistle. He had 2 points in the first quarter. He sank a 14-foot pull-up. He missed a long wing jumper. He missed on a drive across the lane. He hit Pau open for the FT jumper. He attacked and swished a 10-footer. He missed a bank and picked up a tech with another no call. He swished a three on a kickout. Next time down, he missed a three, got it back and airballed a turnaround heave at the halftime buzzer. He had 9 points on 4-13 shooting and no FTs. Second Half: He drained a three off the jab step to start the half. He drained a pull-up wing three next time down. He missed a three a few possessions later. He attacked and threw up a prayer, looking for a foul that wasn't called. He had the ball poked loose as he went up (or it slipped from his hands) for a dunk the other way. He threw down the alley-oop from Pau. He powered up on a baseline attack and was hit on the arm by Amare with no call. He got a touch call from next time down, maybe to make up for it I guess, he made both FTs (his first of the game). He had 19 points on 7-20 shooting after three. He missed a leaner from the elbow. He settled and missed a long jumper over Amare. He hit a short baseline jumper off a Lamar kickout. He sank a fallaway from the wing with the shotclock low. He missed a leaning one hander on penetration. He attacked and hit Lamar with the interior feed for FTs. He was hacked on a drive and drew FTs, he made both. He hit Fish for a three. He was slapped a few times and swished the runner with no call.

Gasol -- -- This is the versatile, active Pau you want to see on the floor across Bynum. Kobe fired away at a high clip, but also moved the ball. Bynum was the featured post player, dominating Amare and taking up space in the lane. Pau filled in the gaps with jumpers, offensive putbacks, and post scores. The result was a 20-14 double-double with 4 blocks and a number of FTs. The Lakers had a size advantage and made sure its impact was felt. Against a run and gun team like the Knicks, this is how you take them out of their game...with size. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 5-13 shooting (10-11 from the line) to go with 14 boards (5 offensive), 4 assists, 2 steals, 4 blocks, 3 turnovers and 1 fouls in 41 minutes. He was a +10. The Action: He lost the post entry for a layup the other way. He scored a layup off the dive cut. He threw a pass away, but blocked the shot on the other end. He swiped a pass. He took contact on a drive with no call and missed. He swiped a pass and pushed up the break. He grabbed a Shannon miss and was hacked under the hoop, he made both FTs. He spun and was stripped, expecting a foul with no call. He missed a catch and shoot from 17 feet. Great effort crashing the glass to pull down a Kobe miss, then he powered up strongly for the And-1, he made the FT. He drained a jumper from that FT line next time down. Second Half: He blocked Amare's drive. Pau's jumper was blocked. He drew FTs on the glass when Bynum drew a crowd and missed, he made both. He lobbed to Kobe from the three line to find him backdoor for the dunk. He sank a jumphook next time down. He grabbed a Kobe miss and drew FTs, he made both. He threw the ball away out of a timeout. He hit Ron under the hoop for a layup. He missed a short bank, Lamar got it back and found Pau for FTs, he made one. He swished a jumper from the FT line. He missed a pumping jumper next time down. He attacked and drew FTs on Amare (a miracle), he made both. He came up short on a jumphook. He stripped Amare on the other end.

Bynum -- -- Sensational game from Bynum. Much better than the stats show. He was abusing Amare, owning him on both ends and the refs tried to even things up as much as possible. They let Amare hack, foul and get away with murder. Meanwhile, Drew was locking Amare down on D. The refs called a bogus foul to start the fourth on what was a great defensive play by Drew. Totally inconsistent reffing except for one thing -- they were protecting Amare. Drew couldn't believe it and let them know. The disrepect of Bynum was carried to its conclusion when the refs gave him two quick techs for complaining. No way they would do that to a "star player" like Amare. Amare got his 23 points on 7-24, many of those points came when Drew sat. He thoroughly dominated the Stoudemire. Prior to the game, Bill Walton told Bynum that he needs to believe that he's a dominant player when on the court and not to waver from that. Drew was that tonight, but he's not given the respect yet by the refs. Perhaps, an All Star selection would help in that regard. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 8-15 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +18. The Action: He was blocked in the paint looking for the foul. He tipped in a Kobe miss. He backed his man down, missed under the hoop and tipped it in. He dunked off the interior feed from Kobe. He slammed off the interior feed from Lamar. Getting back in transition with speed off that and he challenged Amare's layup to get a miss. He had 8 points and 4 boards in the first. He tipped in a Pau miss. He missed a point blank jam, the ball slipping from his hands on the poster job over Amare. He swatted Amare's drive, quick off the floor. He backed Amare under the hoop and scored easily. He kicked to Kobe for a three. He forced Amare into another brick. He had 12 points, 7 boards and 2 blocks. Amare had 5 points on 1-10 shooting. Second Half: He was hacked on the wrist going up. Hacked again going up to slam and screamed at the refs for the no call (these were pretty obvious fouls on Amare). He went up and under to score over Amare. Finally a whistle after backing Amare under the hoop and he was hacked again, he made both FTs. He missed a short one, bullying his way down the paint (it led to Pau FTs). He backed Amare under the hoop, head-faked and gave Amare a facial (could have done this a lot tonight). He had 18 points after three. The refs tossed Bynum with two quick T's after what looked like a good defensive play on Amare.

Artest -- -- The chippy nature of this game (made worse by the refs letting too much go) may have been part of the reason Ron picked up a tech and a flagrant. The league may review a play where brought his hand up to the neck of an opponent for a fraction of a second in a pushing scrum. Who knows how that goes. It's Ron Artest, afterall. Phil didn't want to comment on the refs flagrant. "It's just irritating, that's all," Phil said of the officiating. Defensively, there was a brief flurry in the second half that got several stops for the Lakers. Ron's minutes were up with the Matt Barnes injury. His stats will likely go up, too. He certainly boarded well tonight. He ran with the starters as Phil didn't stagger his sub pattern. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-9 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a +23. The Action: He attacked baseline and kicked to Fisher for a jumper. He was blocked on a drive. He grabbed a Pau miss and scored the And-1 (he then picked up a tech getting into the face of Williams and putting a hand on Williams neck), he missed the FT. He missed a top-of-the-key jumper. He sealed his man, took the pass, missed the layup and the follow in a crowd. He deflected the ball away from his man and forced a shotclock violation. Second Half: He had a pass thrown right to him from the Knicks to start a break. He swiped an inbounds pass. He swiped the ball from Amare on a double team. He missed a three from the top of the key. He scored a layup when Pau found him freed up under the hoop. He clothes-lined Amare for a flagrant-1 (wasn't a hard one). He drew a foul away from the ball trying to post up, he made both FTs. He missed a wing jumper.

Fisher -- -- The Lakers defensive schemes with their twin towers have controlled the PG spot pretty well lately. Felton scored just 12 points on 4-14 shooting. There was a lot of defensive switching going to keep the Knicks from threes or easy two-man scores. The Laker bigs would chase the guards out of the paint and stay with them as needed. Fish got caught on a mismatch or two under the hoop, but he's got enough muscle to make things a little tougher. The Stats: he scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +25. The Action: He sank a baseline jumper on a kickout. He was going to pass up a wide open jumper to pass, then decided to shoot in mid air, airball with no one even on him, wow. Second Half: He swiped the ball from Amare on a double team. He drained a three on a kickout from Kobe. He missed a three trying to beat the shotclock.

Lamar -- -- Rebounding machine. When the Lakers finally pulled away, Lamar was killing the Knicks on the glass during that stretch. They dominated the interior thoroughly. Lamar had as many offensive boards as Amare had defensive ones. The Lakers were a rebound away from four players with double digit boards. And if Drew played the fourth...they might have had five players in that stat (and four double-doubles). Pretty amazing. A 20-rebound advantage will win you a lot of games, especially in the post season. In game 6 and 7 of the finals this past year, you could see early on in both of those that the Lakers were probably going to win just by how they went after the boards. When L.A. dominates on the glass on both ends, they are a tough, tough team to beat. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 4-9 shooting (1-2 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 18 boards (6 offensive), 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: He hit Bynum with an interior feed for a slam. He posted up his man and drew a goaltend call. He swished a three next time down. Poor inbounds pass that was picked off at the end of the quarter (Phil got out of his seat to yell at him). Not close on a reverse. He drew FTs on the corner entry from Blake (he was in pain on the shoulder and took some time before shooting), he made one. Bad outlet to Pau, essentially a jumpball for two players, turnover. No hand up on his man and he hit a three right over Lamar. He got tapped on a layup in the post. He fouled a three shooter (his man missed all three). He missed a lefty jumphook. He put back in a Kobe miss. Second Half: Poor defense off the bench to start his second half on a few sequences. He probed across the lane, kept going and scored the layup. He hit Kobe for a short jumper. He missed a tough attempt after pulling down an offensive board. He grabbed a Pau miss, pulled it out and hit Pau who was hacked for more FTs. He was hacked when Kobe set him up on a drive and dish, he made both FTs. He was fouled on a defensive board, he made one FT. He missed a three.

Blake -- -- He has really looked lost lately -- in the past couple of games especially. The Knicks were an easy team to pick apart. The Hornets threw a zone at the Lakers and that could mess things up. Tonight Blake didn't play with any purpose within the offense. The execution seemed to go south at times, partly as a result. "The second unit had a little struggle with it," Phil said of the offense. The guard position in the triangle is one of the toughest to learn. Blake has had a difficult time finding his game and some of the depth of his skills are disappearing in the process. You will see an occasional flash of it here and there. Tonight, you didn't see any. He's at least giving a consistently solid effort on the other end. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a wing three on a kickout. He pressured Douglass into a backcourt travel. He set up Lamar for FTs on a nice corner entry. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper on the break.

Brown -- -- This looked more like the Shannon of early this season. We saw some high-flying, electric plays at the rim, but also the three ball. He swished a corner three falling into the Knicks bench at the end of the third quarter that took a little sting out of a poor close of the third. As a result of Shannon and Kobe's three shooting, they outplayed the Knicks from beyond the arc. The Lakers made 8-17 threes. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 5-8 shooting (3-4 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 steal and no fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a wing jumper, stepping in off the three line. He attacked Ronny strong on the break and drew FTs, he made both. He drained a corner three on the kickout from Luke. On the next possession, he sank a three from the same spot. Heat-check three from the other side and he wasn't close (rushed it a bit). He was left wide open on the pinch post drive and brought the hammer (nice to see a soaring dunk again). Second Half: He and Artest choked a fast break. He swished a fallaway three with a man on from the corner at the third quarter buzzer. He was hammered on a dunk attempt, he made one FT. He leaked out off a miss, took the outlet, hung and scored the layup.

Walton -- -- Phil let Luke have the Matt Barnes minutes. Luke isn't going to extend those into closing quarters like Barnes often did. Defensively, he looked a step late and a step slow. Offensively, he looked a little hesitant, but able to at least find a couple teammates open. It's easy for Phil to not play Luke at all, if he wanted. He could slide Kobe to SF for a few more minutes, giving Shannon more time at SG. He could even steal a couple of minutes a game with Lamar at SF instead of just playing LO for the under 30-minute games like he will often do with Lamar coming off the bench. Of course, there is also Ebanks, who could at the very least get the garbage time minutes to develop his game. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 turnover and no fouls in 7 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He kicked out to Shannon for a three on the break. His bounce pass was picked off (seemed hestant to shoot with the clock low and forced it). He missed a corner three. Second Half: He attacked and dished off to Caracter for the And-1.

Caracter -- -- He got some garbage time run and made the most of his 2 minutes by scoring a couple layups and getting a defensive stop. Just more domination of the interior even by our deep bench. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-2 shooting (0-1 from the line) in 4 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He did not play in the half. Second Half: Nice footwork in the post to get a step past his man and score the layup running across the lane. He scored an And-1 layup when Luke set him up, he missed the FT. He drew a clear-out foul stepping in to stop a drive.

Phil -- -- After several turnovers in the first couple minutes, Phil called timeout and yelled at his team. Pau specifically, who had two... The Lakers had 5 turnovers and two of their shots blocked in the first 4 minutes and trailed 10-4... Down 17-14 with 4:51, Phil brought in Lamar for Pau... They led 21-17 just a couple minutes later with the 7-0 run (5 from Lamar)... He brought in Blake for Fisher and Pau for Bynum at that Knicks timeout... He brought in Shannon for Kobe with 2 minutes left... Despite the 7 turnovers, the Lakers led 25-21 after the first. They had 6 offensive boards (18-8 rebounding advantage)... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Luke, Brown, Blake unit... Phil called a timeout trailing 36-34 at the 6:28 mark. Stole a lot of minutes of rest for Kobe, Ron and Drew in that stint. Went a little too long with that group and will probably make wholesale substitutions... He went with four substitutions, bringing back in his starting unit. Very hard to maintain flow like that... The Lakers led 52-47 at the half. The Lakers shot 43 percent (21-49, 4-8 from three). They had 34 boards to the Knicks 20. The Knicks shot 38 percent (17-45)... The Lakers overpowered the Knicks to start the third quarter despite some blatant no calls from the refs... Phil sat Bynum up 74-58, Drew was owning Amare and the Lakers knew it... Lamar played lazy on the defensive end when he came in and Amare started to score... Despite a flagrant-1 called on the Lakers, they maintained a double-digit lead when Shannon swished a three at the buzzer... The Lakers led 81-70 heading into the fourth... Bynum got tossed to start the fourth. Bogus. It just ticked the Lakers off more and they steamrolled the Knicks from there... With a couple minutes left, Phil went to the deep bench. Should have done it sooner... Matt Barnes expects to be out 8 weeks. Lakers did well in their first game without him tonight...

[Mel Rose]

Thanks, DB
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Insert something smart here.

[mhan00]

great game.

[jopay]

3rd! Lakers' best game so far...

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB!

I agree the reffing was absolutely laughable, and whether it's fact or not it's hard not to feel like Woods had an agenda out there.

That said; it was bark like a dog time in the middle with Drew slapping Amare all over the floor, and anyone looking at a box score to try to compare them without watching the game would have NO idea how one-sided that matchup was. It was so cool to see though, I feel so good about that game even Leon Woods can't spoil it.

One other really great thing to see was Drew and Pau on the floor together, and concurrently playing great basketball. Hmmmm.... That's a really, really good sign.

Would have been nice to see a little Ebanks though!

Great game summary and T&R; again thanks!

[mhan00]

[Terry_Teagle]

Lamar with another lucky game.

[DancingBarry]

[mhan00]

oh, and it's a (bleep) joke that bynum only had 2 fts. amare had 6 blocks? at least 4 of those were blatant fouls on andrew and kobe. 'drew's and amare's ft totals should have been reversed.

[SHAQ IS FAT]

DB, you should start doing reviews on the refs, because they deserved tonight.
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Airrrrrrrrrr.....ball.

[DancingBarry]

[Laker's Fan]

Nice job D/B. I will say this. In context, Bynum crossed the line and deserved at least one tech. Things were chippy and the refs had been hearing it all night (not saying it wasn't their fault).

Bynum looked like he might "Van Exel" L Woods for a second there. Clearly Woods was on edge at that moment and Bynum didn't know when to cool it. The ejection wasn't deserved but not totally surprising either.

Walton looked ok to me out there. Would have prefered to see Ebanks get a little burn but Luke didn't embarass tonight.
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Austin Reaves keeps his game tight, like Kobe Bryant on game night.

[DancingBarry]

He definitely deserved the tech, but it also showed the difference between "star treatment" like what Amare was getting and the reffing Drew was getting. Would Amare (or Kobe) have been ejected for that? No chance. A tech, sure. It was just the final inequity and insult.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

[Klone_dd]

Great play by the Lakers bigs. Amare is just a terrible defender. He didn't offer any resistance against Bynum. Bynum, if he took his time, could've posterized him several times.

This new "disrespect to the game" Tech rule is crap. Aside from taking away some of the emotion of the game, it allows the refs even more control. After Kobe got his T for showing up the ref, the refs purposefully didn't give Kobe any calls thereafter as if to show him who the real boss was, then extended this to Bynum. You could see why things got so chippy as the Lakers were playing 5 on 8.

[thurloly]

[Bynum4MVP]

I think this was the first game where Pau and Bynum together looked like a well-oiled machine. Great progress and here's to hoping for many, many more Two Tower domination.

Lamar wasn't the well-oiled machine Pau/Bynum were but he was the "lucky" machine.

Hopefully Brown Mamba is back; he played great and the Lakers won easily.
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Before Lamar trade: Lakers-57 wins (2011)
After Lamar Trade: Lakers 41 wins (2012)
Lol, people actually thought trading LO would be a GOOD thing

[limchrc]

thanks

[Rick12322]

Thanks, DB. In the next CBA I'd love to see the players stand firm on removing control of the officiating to an independent agency from David Stern and company. An agency that is held accountable by the players association, meaning that all the players vote and a certain percentage is established to grant authority on firing bad refs or disciplining them. They should also be allowed to set up a policy of accountability. for example, the refs should have to answer questions to the media. The media should be able to show them video clips and ask them questions about their performance. The nba libraries are stacked with video examples of refs standing there in plain view and seeing major hacks on players, and failing to blow the whistle. I'm all for letting them play and not calling ticky tack stuff, but what's happened to Kobe this year, and Bynum last night is a disgrace to the game and unacceptable.

Sorry for getting off topic.

Anyways, it was a good win.

[prisma8slg]

Bynum played a great game. I was glad the rest of the team picked up their play after he was wrongfully tossed. I was surprised how much we dominated after losing Bynum.

thanks DB
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"I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant

"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."

[RVCdesigns]

Bynumite indeed, thanks DB.

[Gallofa]

Startin to roll!!

Thanks, DB

[DancingBarry]

[Burgundy]

It's interesting that the Lakers only get chippy when they aren't getting any calls (as what happened tonight). The odd way the game was called (the Knicks, essentially, were allowed to do whatever they wanted inside) created a hostile environment that started to bubble over as the game wore on.

If the refs had simply called a fair game (or even some semblance of a fair game), tempers wouldn't have boiled over.

By the way, DB, completely agree with you about Luke. It's too bad he didn't retire over the summer like his Dad reportedly asked him.

He's such a bad basketball player, it's almost comical. During his first half stint, he literally turned down a wide open 8 foot jumper so he could force a pass into a double covered Pau (which lead to a turnover).

I agree that Phil should probably play Kobe more at 3, or even give Ebanks some minutes (5-10 minutes a game). Ebanks may be green, but he'll bring energy and athleticism...the only "skill" Walton brings at this point is a pass first mentality...YIKES.

[Meez619]

bynum and pau together on the court are great, size kills and we showed it yesterday... bynum had amare in check
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